Xu Xi Reads from 'Habit of a Foreign Sky'

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Xu Xi, finalist for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize, reads here from her novel Habit of a Foreign Sky at the Asia Society New York, November 8, 2010.

The book: “What happens when a high-powered female executive relinquishes all responsibilities? For Gail, a mixed-race, single mother who loses her only child and her mother in the span of two years, the only thing that keeps her barely afloat in this world is her hard-earned career at a global investment bank. Her life goes into a rapid free fall, [forcing her to endure] her complicated past as she was once so sure of her direction in life.”

Xu Xi is author of nine books of fiction and essays, including Evanescent Isles (essays), Overleaf Hong Kong (stories and essays), The Unwalled City (novel), and History’s Fiction (stories). Her story collection Access will be published in 2011-12. She has taught creative writing workshops at universities and other forums in Asia, Europe, and North America, and she also lectures and writes on globalized culture. A Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, she abandoned an 18-year international marketing and management career in favor of the writing life. She is currently writer-in-residence at the City University of Hong Kong, where she directs an international MFA in writing of Asia in English. She is also Director of the Vermont College of Fine Arts low-res MFA .

If you’re at the conference, see Xu Xi today, Thursday, 3:00-4:15, Palladian Ballroom, Omni Shoreham Hotel, West Lobby, R208, in a session called “What Women DON’T Write About When We Write About Sex.”